On Christmas Day, 2010, in the picturesque beach city of Holguín, Cuba,
independent journalist Antonio Michel Lima Cruz and his brother and
fellow journalist Marcos Maiquel decided to have a holiday gathering for
friends and family at their home.

As day turned to night, the party gathered steam and drifted outside,
where the brothers decided to play the music of a highly political Cuban
hip-hop group—Los Aldeanos ("the Villagers")—that routinely called for
increased freedom of political expression on the island nation. As the
brothers and their friends and family danced and sang in the streets,
waving Cuban flags, secret police gathered nearby.

The police waited until after midnight. In a rush, they raided the Lima
Cruz home with 40 pro-government supporters in tow. The Lima Cruz
brothers were arrested, and their entire family was detained. Most of
the Lima Cruz clan was ultimately released without charge, but not all
of them.

Five months later, Antonio Michel and Marcos Maiquel were sentenced to
two and three years of prison respectively for "insulting symbols of the
homeland" (ultraje a los símbolos de la pátria) and "public disorder"
(desórdenes públicos).

Amnesty International has been keeping tabs on the Lima Cruz brothers'
case since it learned of the arrests.

While the country's economy may be modernizing, open political
expression is still a very brave and very dangerous act in Cuba.

"We believe the sentences are politically motivated," Ilona Kelly,
Campaigner for Individuals at Risk at Amnesty tells TakePart. "These are
protesters of conscience."

The arrests of the Lima Cruz brothers may come as a surprise. There's
been a popular perception in the United States that since taking control
of the Cuban presidency from his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, Cuban
President Raul Castro has lead a gradual effort to relax his country's
strict Soviet-era political autocracy. Early in his presidency, the
younger Castro eased restrictions on the private purchase of computers
and DVD players—a seeming nod to the abandonment of militant information
control.

In 2011, Raul launched a series of reforms to liberalize the strict
Communist economy in Cuba established by his brother Fidel. The younger
Castro eased restrictions on small business and created the legal
framework for the purchasing of land—the first time Cuban citizens have
been allowed to buy private property since the Cuban revolution.

And yet, much like China's entry into the capitalist world over the past
decade, Cuba's changing economy has not been accompanied by the
liberalization of political freedoms.

"In terms of freedom of expression, we have longstanding concerns," says
Amnesty's Kelly. "People have been arrested and harassed after
expressing their beliefs and protesting. Whether it's gotten better or
worse, I can't say."

While the country's economy may be modernizing, open political
expression is still a very brave and very dangerous act in Cuba. At
least 75 "prisoners of conscience" are currently locked up in prisons
across Cuba. Over the past few years, in solidarity, the wives and
mothers of these inmates have gathered in protest at various churches
across Cuba.

For their habit of dressing in immaculate white church clothes, these
women have come to be known as the Ladies in White. They too have
suffered persecution from police for their efforts.

According to Amnesty, Cuban police recently detained two members of the
Ladies in White after a protest. The women still await charges. In
March, 70 Damas de Blanco were detained by Cuban authorities and
prevented from attending an outdoor Havana mass celebrated by Pope Benedict.

Cuba may be on the verge of great change as it enters the tail end of
the Castro brothers' dueling regimes. For the growing number of
prisoners of conscience on the island—including at least one American,
Alan Gross, who has been in prison since 2009 for attempting to set up
Internet services for a small Cuban Jewish community—that change remains
elusive.

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